Mixed ruling for Centracco murder suspect

A judge has ruled that some of the statements Michael Woods made to a confidential informant in jail will be suppressed and some will not.

By Vishal PersaudStaff writer

A judge has ruled that some of the statements Michael Woods made to a confidential informant in jail will be suppressed and some will not.

Woods, 29, is charged in connection with the killings of three people. He also reportedly tried to arrange the murder of a fourth person while in jail.

Woods is accused of killing 20-year-old Toni Centracco in August 2007 after he tried to break into her home looking for drugs, authorities have said. Centracco was living with her boyfriend, Marshall Pardee, at the time.

Woods was arrested on Nov. 4, 2010 and, once in jail, reportedly tried to solicit a hitman to kill a witness.

During that time in jail, Woods reportedly divulged details regarding the murder case and his intentions to hire a hitman to his cellmate at the time, Renaldo Wise.

On Dec. 16, 2010, Wise came forward and volunteered to wear a recording device to help law officers. Wise met with authorities on Jan. 12, 2011 and was fitted with a wire.

Circuit Judge Brian Lambert ruled that the statements Woods made to Wise after he wore the wire should be suppressed because Wise was acting as an agent of the state, which violates Woods’ Sixth Amendment rights.

“Incriminating statements elicited by a government agent outside the presence of counsel cannot be admitted in evidence,” Lambert wrote in the ruling.

However, the statements made to Wise before he was fitted with a wire are admissible, Lambert ruled.

Lambert also wrote that the court wasn’t swayed by the state’s argument that “statements by the Defendant (Woods) to Wise should nonetheless be admitted as evidence in the present case as Defendant’s ‘consciousness of guilt.’”

While in jail and awaiting trial in the Centracco case, Woods was also charged for the February 2010 killings of Marshall Pardee and Pardee’s girlfriend at the time, Chyavana Hampton.

Authorities found the couple dead in their condo. Those two murder cases are still pending.

Wood’s trial for the Centracco case is scheduled for January 2013. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Contact Vishal Persaud at 867-4065, vishal.persaud@starbanner.com or on Twitter @vishalpersaud.